Around the NFL: Four coaching tales that may help the Browns

Four NFL success stories are informing the discussions of who will be the next head coach of the Browns. The three top men in the Browns’ power structure draw first-hand insights from each story.

Steve Doerschuk CantonRep.com sports writer @sdoerschukREP

Here’s what has worked in coaching searches in four NFL towns where, well, coaching hires have worked — in different ways:

NEW ENGLAND

Hire Bill Belichick was 47 when the Patriots hired him to replace Pete Carroll in 2000.

Background Belichick had been defensive coordinator on Bill Parcells’ two New York Giants Super Bowl teams when the Browns hired him in 1991, at age 38. He was 5-11 in his final year, after which he didn’t know he wasn’t making the move to Baltimore until he was fired at the 1996 predraft combine in Indianapolis. He became assistant head coach under Parcells in New England in 1996 and held that title with the Jets — under Parcells — the next three years.

Growing pains His first year with the Patriots was miserable. The Patriots had gone 8-8 in Carroll’s final year but were 5-11 for Belichick. The 2000 Browns were a second-year expansion team that won one of its last 13 games. The “one” was against Belichick’s Patriots.

Belichick dug in for a year to install a foundation. Tom Brady, the quarterback he drafted in Round 6 in 2000, was no centerpiece at first. Building on the foundation had more to do with the Patriots’ rise in 2001 than Brady’s ascent to the starting quarterback job, following an injury to Drew Bledsoe.

Belichick’s coaching and Brady’s improvement became inseparable elements in a dynasty.

Browns application Just as Belichick sandwiched stints with Parcells around his first head coaching job, Josh McDaniels has done that with Belichick. Belichick has been a mentor and confidant to McDaniels, who in turn has spent more than a decade studying and developing quarterbacks.

McDaniels is close to Belichick’s age when Belichick became Browns head coach. Unlike Belichick, he would arrive with head coaching experience — and with a full-blown Belichick tutorial on how to avoid mistakes made in Cleveland.

Key observer Browns general manager Michael Lombardi worked with Belichick in Cleveland from 1991-95, has maintained a relationship with Belichick, and knows McDaniels fairly well.

BALTIMORE

Hire John Harbaugh was 45 when the Ravens hired him in 2008.

Background Harbaugh absorbed football from his coaching dad, Jack, and was a defensive back at Miami (Ohio). He was well into his 30s and had spent eight years as the special teams coach at the University of Cincinnati before he landed a job with the Philadelphia Eagles. He spent seven years as the special teams coach before coaching defensive backs in 2007.

Growing pains Somehow, he avoided them. The year before he arrived, the Ravens were 5-11 under Brian Billick. Yet, Harbaugh had them at 11-5 and in the AFC finals in his first year, with rookie Joe Flacco playing quarterback.

He led the Ravens to five straight playoff seasons before they fell short this year, at 8-8.

Browns application Harbaugh wasn’t at the center of anyone’s radar when the Ravens hired him. In their brainstorms, the Browns have discussed leader types who have escaped widespread attention.

Harbaugh’s father began his coaching career in the Canton McKinley system. McDaniels’ dad won a state championship at McKinley.

Key observer Browns CEO Joe Banner was president of the Eagles while Harbaugh grew up under Andy Reid.

PHILADELPHIA

Hire Chip Kelly was 49 when he interviewed for the Browns’ head coaching job last year. Kelly became head coach of the Eagles six days after Cleveland hired Rob Chudzinski.

Background Kelly was a 40-something coordinator for the New Hampshire Wildcats as recently as 2006. He spent the next two years calling plays at Oregon, which appointed him as head coach in 2009. His innovative applications of the spread offense helped him supplant USC as the power of the West.

Growing pains It was assumed the big league had sniffed out Kelly’s gadgetry when he lost late-October games to the Cowboys and Giants by a combined 32-10 score. Kelly’s team was 3-5 at that point, the same as Rob Chudzinski’s.

Kelly adjusted, beating Oakland 49-20 on the road in his next game. He turned Nick Foles, who was drafted two rounds later than Brandon Weeden in 2012, into an overnight sensation. A week after the Browns lost to Chicago, Kelly’s Eagles blasted the Bears 54-11. They are in the playoffs with a 10-6 record.

Browns application Auburn head coach Gus Malzahn is 48. As recently as 2005, he was a high school coach in Arkansas. He jumped straight into a coordinator job at the University of Arkansas in 2006, spent two years as an assistant head coach at Tulsa, then spent three years running Auburn’s offense, including on a national championship team.

He left in 2012 to be head coach at Arkansas State, and in his first year as head coach at Auburn has the Tigers in a national championship game.

The Browns better understand the dos and don’ts of chasing a hit college coach after not connecting with Kelly last year.

Key observer Browns owner Jimmy Haslam is an SEC guy through and through. His Tennessee accent is not far removed from Malzahn’s Arkansas twang.

PITTSBURGH

Hire Mike Tomlin was 34 when he replaced Bill Cowher as head coach in 2007.

Background Tomlin interned with the Browns in 2000, working with defensive coordinator Romeo Crennel. That led to a full-time job with Tony Dungy’s Tampa Bay Buccaneers in 2001. Tomlin stayed on as defensive backs coach when Dungy was replaced by Jon Gruden. Tomlin left for a coordinator job with the Vikings in 2006, making quite an impression.

Growing pains Tomlin skipped them. The Steelers were coming off an 8-8 year under Cowher but won their first game under Tomlin, 34-7 at Cleveland. He was 9-3 at one point before fading to 10-6, followed by playoff loss to Jacksonville. Unfazed, he led the Steelers to a Super Bowl win the next year.

Browns application Tomlin is unique, but elements of his story apply here and there.

He is a caution against assuming Arizona defensive coordinator Todd Bowles

isn’t necessarily being interviewed to satisfy “The Rooney Rule.”

He is proof a defensive background need not hinder a head coach in an offensive league. Browns interview subject Dan Quinn, who was a coach at William & Mary when Tomlin played there, is defensive coordinator of the Seahawks.

Malzahn has been Auburn’s head coach for just one year, but then, Tomlin was an NFL coordinator for just one year before Pittsburgh made an prescient projection.

Key observer Haslam was a minority owner of he Steelers while Tomlin was going to two Super Bowls.